Lots of good sport to look forward to this weekend with the Solheim Cup, Twenty/20 cricket and the Singapore Grand Prix, in which Sebastien Vettel will take the world of beating at 1.98 on Betdaq and could wrap up the driver’s championship.
The World Cup rugby carries on with a number of mis-matches but a couple of interesting games. The match of last weekend was Ireland’s victory over Australia, which has radically shaken up Betdaq’s market as the line-up for the last eight that most people were expecting has gone out of the window.
Australia now look set to meet South Africa in the quarter-finals and both have drifted in the betting, the Wallabies out from 9.2 and the Springboks just a fraction to 11. The All Blacks have shortened to 1.6 while England are in to 14 despite playing very poorly so far.
Bring on the knockout stage when the World Cup starts for real.
There’s a really good card at Newmarket on Saturday and the highlight is the usual competitive renewal of the Cambridgeshire. I put up Cry Fury on Betdaq Tips a couple of weeks ago at Doncaster and was initially very disappointed with his performance. However, watching the race again the drop back in trip and slowly run race did not suit him. The extra furlong and Newmarket’s stiff finish will play to this horse’s strengths. I remain convinced that Cry Fury will be a Group horse one day and can go close in this big race off his current mark.
I’m surprised to see that Chelsea have drifted to 6.2 on Betdaq to win the Barclays Premier League. I was really impressed with them last Sunday in a game at Old Trafford that could have had any scoreline. They were the better side for large periods of the game and Andre Villas-Boas will have learnt a great deal from the experience. As Gary Neville explained before kick-off, it was brave to go to Old Trafford with such an attacking line-up and the game produced exactly the ‘shoot-out’ he predicted. It will be interesting to see if Villas-Boas adopts similar tactics again. With Torres coming back to his best, Anelka already in prime form, and Mata and Meireles providing the ammunition, I’m sure Chelsea can still challenge for the title. They look all set to go on a winning run to me.
I’m looking forward to presenting my first game from Loftus Road on Sunday. Super Sunday is QPR (2.3) against Aston Villa (3.5). These two haven’t met in the Premier League since March 1996 when Dwight Yorke scored twice in Villa’s 4-2 win at Villa Park. I hope you can join us live from Loftus Road from 3.30pm on Sky Sports HD1.
I will then stay up in London and head in to Sky HQ early the next day to prepare for the Monday Night Football with Gary Neville. We will look back on all the weekend’s action and the live game is a famous old fixture – Norwich (2.63) against Sunderland (2.98).
It’s a match-up we’ve not seen for a long time though as this is their first top flight meeting in 21 years, since Norwich won 2-1 at Roker Park in December 1990.
Sunderland’s last top flight win was 3-1 at Carrow Road in March 1985 and just eight days later, Norwich exacted revenge in the League Cup Final at Wembley.
For a bet I’m focussing on the DW Stadium on Saturday. Last week’s bet was a disaster with Stoke getting thumped at Sunderland and that is the last time I back a side away from home after a European game in midweek.
I’m keen to back Tottenham to win at Wigan this weekend as I was hugely impressed by their victory against Liverpool and expect Harry Redknapp’s side to kick on from here. I’m surprised to see 1.90 about Spurs available on Saturday.